


Cursed

by youngavengerfeels



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Fluff, M/M, Magical Realism, Meet-Cute, Vampire Bucky Barnes, cruse breaker steve rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 12:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12081462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngavengerfeels/pseuds/youngavengerfeels
Summary: Steve is and curse breaker and Bucky is his best customer.





	Cursed

“Were you stalking Anna Kendrick or something?” Steve asked incredulously. 

“No!” James said sounding outraged at the accusation.

“Sorry for assuming but curses normally have a reason for taking the form that they do and yours has to be one of the most ridiculous ones I've seen in a while,” Steve said. It was an impressive feat considering Steve broke curses for a living. James though had come in with a curse that required him to grab whatever was in front of him no matter what when the Cups Song was played and do the thing. Steve had put a full cup of water in front of Bucky test it and sure enough when Steve played the song from his phone Bucky jerkily picked up the cup and did the stupid little portion of the song despite the water spilling everywhere. Steve waved his hand and cleaned up the water easily enough. 

It would be easier to figure out how to break the curse be he knew what happened but like with most clients James seemed unwilling to tell the story, which was a shame because Steve honestly would love to know. Steve was just glad they were dealing with something that was just ridiculous and not spiteful, those were the worst curses to try and break. 

Steve hadn't started out as a curse breaker. Growing up no one thought his body was even strong enough to hold magic but after puberty his body had changed dramatically and his magic had grown with it. He had trained to be a healer like his mother but had never really enjoyed or was partially good at healing so he had opened a little shop that sold healing potions and protection wards. Steve was really good at running his own business and found his nitch. He didn't start curse breaking until he started helping out customers with custom spells. When he realized he was good at it he started offering it as a real service. His business took off after that.

“So how does this work? Do I have to find my one true love and kiss them?” James asked clearly trying to make a joke, one that Steve heard often in his line of work. 

“We’d have a real serious curse on our hands if you did,” Steve said shaking his head. A curse had to be really powerful in or to put that kind of stipulation on breaking it. Most curses just sort of fizzled out on their own eventually as the person who performed the curse got over whatever made them give the curse in the first place. But curses when inconvenient and some people could hold a grudge for a really long time. So the cursed came to Steve. “No, I’m just going to use my magic to poke around for weak spots in the curse and try to break the connect between you and the spell,” Steve explained already pulling on his magic to start exploring. 

“Oh! That feels weird,” James said jumping a little at the sensation which could be odd to anyone unfamiliar with it, especially a vampire who would have no real experience with the way witch’s magic felt or worked. It took Steve a little while to root around the curse to try and find where he could use his own magic to lift the curse, but eventually he felt the slight weak point in the curse and got to work. James shifted in his seat at the sensation and then gasped as the curse was lifted. 

“Did it work?” James asked unsure. Steve nodded.

“Let’s play the song and make sure,” Steve said already grabbing his phone to play the cups song. He played about a minute of it with no reaction from James who’s grin got wider the longer the song played. 

“Thanks a lot, I thought I was going to be stuck like that. You’re a real life saver,” James said clapping Steve on the back. Now that the work was done Steve had a little more attention to really take a look at James and wow he was something to look at. 

Like all vampires he was pale, but unlike many other vampires who looked sickly pale, james looked good. His long hair looked so soft Steve just wanted to pull it out of that stupid man bun and run his fingers through it. Steve couldn’t even look James directly in the eye because he was afraid of getting lost in the storm of those grey eyes. Steve was pretty sure it was alright to have a crush on a client if he never planned to see that client again. 

“No problem, let me ring you up and you’ll be all set to go,” Steve said. If he took a little longer ringing James up so he could continue to chat about how disappointing Pitch Perfect 2 was and his hopes for repetition for the third movie no one needed to know. Steve was disappointed to see James walk out of the shop, but it sure was a hell of a view in those jeans james was wearing. 

One part of the shop that Steve loved was helping people find the right spells for them. He loved talking to customers, taking the time to get to know them in order to recommend the best protection charms and wards that he could to keep them same or figure out what potions they needed for their ailments. Steve was helping a customer pick a protection ward for her daughter who was going away to college when the door opened letting him know another customer had come in. 

“I'll be with you in a minute, feel free to take a look around,” Steve called not looking up. He went back to explaining the benefits to the various protection wards he kept in stock and the options for custom spells. Everything was alright for about a minute before there was a crashing sound. Steve looked up to see his very carefully set up display of hair regrowth potions on the floor. Thank goodness Steve had used plastic containers and nothing broke. The culprit was looking at Steve with a guilty expression. It took Steve a moment to place the face but after a second he recognized James. 

“I'm so sorry,” James said race flushed with embarrassment. Steve schooled back his annoyance. James was a customer, nothing was damaged there was no reason to be cross even if it had taken Steve the better part of an hour to get that display just right. 

“It's not a big deal, let me just ring this lovely lady up and I'll help you out,” Steve said waving his hand, the displaced bottles flying back up to the counter top. It wasn’t pretty but it got the product off the floor. Steve rang the other customer up and turned back to James who was rooted in place

“I need help with another curse,” James said. 

“Oh, well come into the back and let me take a look,” Steve said surprised that James was back again so soon. It had only been a little over a week since James’ first visit. When you were a curse breaker, not having repeat customers was kind of nice. 

“I don't think moving is a good idea,” Bucky said looking from Steve to the bottles he had knocked over. 

“Movement based curses are pretty common,” Steve said. It was always a good policy to never put on red shoes just in case they were cursed. He made his way around the checkout counter to come stand by James. “If it doesn't cause you pain I do need to see the curse in action though,” Steve promoted. James looked pin for a second but then he sigh and went to move. 

Whatever Steve had been expecting Bucky exceeded all of them. His leg swung out wide and the slapped down on the ground hard and he sort of sashed forward. James went to take another ‘step’ and veered out to the side with a little turn crashing into a table, luckily not knocking anything over. It just seems rather silly. 

“So you were cursed to walk silly?” Steve asked a little confused. It was a little boring as far as curses went, although definitely embarrassing to say the least. 

“The person who cursed me is really passionate about Monty Python,” James said looking a little ashamed. 

“Oh! The Ministry of Silly Walks, I love that skit,” Steve said. “You're kind of lucky they could have gone with something so much weirder. I should be able to break this pretty quick,” Steve assured. 

And it was fairly a simple curse since it didn’t seem to have a lot of ill will embeded with it, more amusement than anything else which was odd but Steve didn’t question it. The more anger and ill intent used when cursing someone one the harder it was to break it no matter how the curse manifested. This curse seemed to be the product of two friends messing around based on the the mild amusement that Steve felt went into it. He was easily able to break the connect between James and the curse because the caster hadn’t meant to harm James.  It would have taken less time if James hadn’t spent the whole time chatting Steve up. Not that Steve minded seeing as it meant James would hang around longer giving him great eye candy to look at. 

“All done. Try to go longer than a week before getting cursed again,” Steve teased. 

“What? You tired of my face already?” Bucky teased right back. 

“Well it isn’t much to look at. Actually we should probably consider looking to see if you're cursed with a mug like that,” Steve said with a straight face. James stared at him for a second and then laughed. Steve rung Bucky up and then enjoyed the view as he left again. 

It was two weeks before James made it back into the shop asking for Steve to break another curse, although it took Steve a while to figure out what James was actually asking for seeing as he could only talk in Disney quotes. Steve may have tortured the guy and spent twenty minutes just trying to get him to say the most obnoxious things laughing his ass off. When the curse had been lifted James admitted he had made a joke about adults liking Disney and his friend had cursed in him retaliation. Steve personally sided with the friend seeing as he was an adult and still loved watching Disney movies, no shame in that. James had given him an unimpressed look when he vocalized that. 

James started showing up like clockwork after that. He was always cursed with the stupidest things. He once came in having to end every sentence with ‘that’s what she said’ and another more annoying time every thing James touch got covered in glitter. He had been more than happy to demo that particular curse placing a hand on Steve’s forearm instantly covering Steve in red, white, and blue glitter. It had taken Steve weeks to finally stop finding random glitter on himself or around the shop. 

Steve had no idea how one person could get cursed so often. James was in at least once a week, sometimes more with the most inane curses that Steve had ever seen. Either James was an ass to everyone or else had really shitty luck and was just always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way he ended up spending a lot of time with James helping to break the curses. James always hung around afterward just chatting with Steve, keeping him company until another customer came in. It was actually really nice. It did nothing to help Steve with his crush though. He really needed to get laid, preferably by James but he would take what he could get that this point.

Steve hated going to parties. As a teenager when he was still small and undesirable he didn't really get invited to parties unless one of his friends made a deal about it. He was still a wallflower at parties even if he was more confident in himself. He just didn't do well in that kind of atmosphere. His friends didn't really give him a choice most of the time. He had tried once to fake sick to get out of a party but his friends had just moved the party to his apartment instead. 

At least they were at the age now where most of their parties were more of the adults drinking wine and talking vibe as opposed to teenage house parties. Steve still found himself sitting alone awkwardly wonder if it was socially acceptable for him to leave yet. Sam didn't even have a pet for him to befriend. He could just play on his phone but he didn't want to appear ride. So he just sat on the couch drinking a glass of wine, while other adults stood around him chatting about their kids and politics. Steve had a blanket ban on discussing any political issues in public after the Incident. 

“Oh hey James, I didn't know you knew Sam,” Steve said sitting up a little bit. 

“I met Sam at the VA,” Steve nodded at that because that was where most people knew Sam from. “my friends call me Bucky,” Bucky said. 

“Keeping your real name secret, that's smart. You wouldn't want anyone with true malicious intent to have your real name, especially not with your tendency to get cursed,” Steve said. 

“That's not… it's just a nickname,” Bucky said sounding a little frustrated thought Steve couldn't understand why.

“Well either way it is a good plan,” Steve said. They fell into an awkward silence that had Steve shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “I would have thought a vampire would go for the red wine,” Steve said nodding his head to the beer bottle in Bucky’s hand. Bucky snorted. 

“That would be too on the nose,” Bucky said with a laugh which made Steve laugh as well. The party got a lot better from that point. Steve didn’t even look at his phone, wondering when he could leave he was too engrossed with talking to Bucky. It was nice seeing him outside of the shop and the context of a business relationship. Bucky was seeing him just as normal Steve and not, customer service Steve. He didn’t even notice how late it had gotten until Sam had physically kicked them out of his house. 

Steve started seeing Bucky outside of the shop more often, but only ever with their shared friends which it turned out they had many of.  Bucky knew Clint and Natasha from work and Tony because apparently vampires all ran in the same circles. It was kind of weird that they had never met before this, but Steve was happy they had met. He loved all his friends dearly but something just clicked into place with Bucky. They had similar interests and opinions on almost everything. Whenever their group of friends started going on a debate Bucky and Steve would naturally just slid together to gang up on everyone else. 

Bucky was also really freaking attractive. Steve really wanted to ask the guy out but romantic inquiries had never been a strong suit for him. It had taken him a year to work up the courage to ask Peggy out. He really didn't want to wait that long for Bucky but he also had no idea what he was getting into. He needed more information before diving in. 

Steve had a standing coffee date with Sam on the first and third sunday of the month. They ran every other morning together normally, but sometimes they got busy and would go weeks without seeing each other. That was why they had insisted the standing coffee date. If nothing else they would hang out and catch up on those days. It was really nice to have a friend with such low pressure. 

They had just sat down with their coffee when Steve asked, “so what's Bucky’s deal?” unable to keep a lid on his curiosity anymore. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy seeing Bucky all the time but someone getting cursed that often was kind of a red flag. He never seemed like an asshole when Steve was around, but you never know.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked. 

“You know, why does he keep getting cursed?” Steve asked. He had suggested to Bucky the other day that they might want to consider running a test to see if Bucky had an underlying bad luck curse that Steve hadn't caught before, but Bucky refused and Steve wasn't about to use magic on someone without consent. Sam gave him a weird look.

“I don't know man, I think that's something you should be asking him,” Sam said. Steve rolled his eyes because that was supremely unhelpful advice. 

“Alright. Going a completely different direction, is he single?” Steve asked. Sam sputtered, choking on his coffee. “Don’t give me that look, I’m just asked a simple question,” Steve said defensively. 

“Man, I do not want to play matchmaker for you so all I’m going to say before we move on so I can tell you about the shit storm at the VA is that yes he is single and very ready to mingle,” Sam said making Steve laugh before launching into a horror story from the last all staff meeting at the VA. Steve loved listening to Sam’s stories because even though he didn’t actually know any of these people Sam told the story so well he felt like he did.

After parting ways with Sam, Steve finally got a chance to think about Bucky in the context of possibly maybe asking him out. He was hella interested but he also didn’t want to make it weird between them. He was just starting to have a real friendship with the guy and didn’t want to ruin it by coming on too strong. He didn’t know what to do. Steve ended up having a sleepless night, too keyed up to get any meaningful sleep. 

Steve was able to fall asleep at the counter, he was so tired. The shop was dead, and everything was fully restocked so he didn’t even have any inventory to make to keep him awake. He was debating just calling it quits and going to bed early when the front door opened, little bell jingling. 

“I'm glad you came in today last night I was about to fall asleep when I thought of you,” Steve said looking up to see Bucky. 

“You think of me often late at night?” Bucky asked in a funny voice interrupting him. Steve blushed, a little embarrassed that Bucky was the reason actually didn’t sleep at all last night. At least he had been a little productive with his sleepless night.

“You just popped into my head, but I thought of a great potion for you. I turned it a body wash so when you cursed you can just take shower and wash it off. I want to develop it a little further into bath bombs eventually and sell it in the shop,” Steve started explaining getting excited about the idea again just as he had last night when it popped into his head the first time. While it wouldn't work for any half decent curse people like Bucky who ended up with a half dozen low level embarrassing curses it would do in a punch. That way the socially anxious wouldn't have to go through the embarrassment of explaining a curse to a curse breaker in person. If Bucky liked it he was going to mass produce it.

“Why don't you try it now with whatever curse your under and see if it works? You can use my tub in my apartment above the shop,” Steve proposed. He wouldn't normally invite a client into his space but it was just Bucky so he didn’t even think twice about it. Steve waited outside the bathroom door eagerly awaiting the result. If this worked it would be such a great item to add to the shop. He was glad Bucky was there to help him test it out.

“Yep, I’m curse free,” Bucky said sounding a little dejected. 

“That’s great! That means it works,” Steve said. “Oh, I forgot to ask, what was it this time?” Steve asked curious. Bucky always had the weirdest curses. 

“Um, oh it was…’ Bucky said trailing off. Steve stared at Bucky waiting for him to continue. It wasn’t like Bucky to get embarrassed about this kind of thing so it must be something extra weird. “I actually wasn’t cursed?” Bucky said making it sound more like a question than a statement. Steve furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Why did you come to the shop then?” Steve asked. 

“I actually came to ask you out on a date. I’ve been using curses as an excuse to see you for months trying to work up the courage to ask you out but lost my nerve every time. I figured without a curse as an excuse I would have to ask you out, but then you were all excited about the body wash…” Bucky said trailing off at the end.

“You purposely let yourself get cursed just to have an excuse to come and see me?” Steve asked just wanting to make sure he had understood that correctly because if he had, Bucky was kind of actually the biggest dork Steve had ever met. 

“Yeah, basically,” Bucky said looking way more nervous that Steve had ever seen him before. 

“That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You could have gotten a really bad curse Bucky, one that even I wouldn't have been able to lift? What would you have done then?” Steve asked.

“Sorry, sorry, I know I'm pathetic. You're just so...you, and I wanted to ask you out but was too scared. You probably think I'm some kind of a creep. I'll just go, don't worry about having to see me again,” Bucky said sounding dejected. He made a motion to leave but Steve moved to block his path.

“That's not what I'm thinking,” Steve said forming looking Bucky in the eye. “I'm thinking about the fact that you put yourself in danger just for the opportunity to ask me out. I'm flattered because I've kind of had a crush on you for a while, but also pissed as hell that you would do something so stupid,” Steve said. Bucky’s sad puppy dog face morphed into an elated face.

“You have a crush on me?” Bucky said. 

“Yeah I do, since the first time I saw you, now are you going to do anything about it? I'm asking because technically you still haven't asked me out,” Steve said. 

“Will you go out with me?” Bucky asked excitedly.

“I don't know I'll have to check my calendar,” Steve said making a move to where he kept his planner. 

“Steve!” Bucky said rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah alright, but only in the condition that you stop getting yourself cursed all the time,” Steve said move back to stand in front of Bucky, hands coming to rest on Bucky’s shoulders. 

“I think I can manage that,” Bucky said softly, placing his hands on Steve’s hips. “Can I kiss you?” Bucky asked face only inches away from Steve. Steve licked his lips in anticipation and nodded Bucky leaned in gently brushed his lips against Steve’s. It wasn’t even much of a kiss but Steve was already hooked. Bucky pulled away and made a face at Steve. “Huh that’s weird,” he said. 

“What? Steve asked worried that maybe Bucky had changed his mind after one kiss. 

“Well I kissed you and you still seemed to be  frog, not a handsome prince,” Bucky said with a  shit eating grin. Steve punched Bucky in the shoulder for his trouble, making Bucky yelp and then burst out in giggles. Through the giggled Bucky pulled Steve in for another kiss and Steve was content to just go along for the ride. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this fic! Sorry if there are any errors, I type my fics up on my phone and then edit them on my laptop so I might not have caught all the autocorrect typos. Please let me know what you think!


End file.
